Banach spaces with a weak cotype 2 property (Q1087788)

We study the Banach spaces X with the following property: there is a number \(\delta\) in ]0,1[ such that for some constant C, any finite dimensional subspace \(E\subset X\) contains a subspace \(F\subset E\) with \(\dim F\geq \delta \cdot \dim E\) which is C-isomorphic to a Euclidean space. We show that if this holds for some \(\delta\) in ]0,1[ then it also holds for all \(\delta\) in ]0,1[ and we estimate the function \(C=C(\delta)\). We show that this property holds iff the ''volume ratio'' of the finite dimensional subspaces of X are uniformly bounded. We also show that (although X can have this property without being of cotype 2) \(L_ 2(X)\) possesses this property iff X is of cotype 2. In the last part of the paper, we study the K-convex spaces which have a dual with the above property and we relate it to a certain extension property. The later spaces are now called weak type 2 spaces. For more recent results concerning weak type 2 spaces, see the paper of \textit{A. Pajor} [Isr. J. Math.]. The spaces which are both of weak type 2 and weak cotype 2 are called weak Hilbert spaces. They are studied extensively in a forthcoming paper by the second author.